Tau'ri
Tau'ri is the term used by the inhabitants of the Milky Way to refer to Earth and human beings from Earth. The word means "first ones" or "those from the first world" in Goa'uld in the sense that human life began on Earth. While it originally applied to all human beings in the Milky Way, the term has come to apply specifically to the humans who currently live on Earth as the Stargate Program progressed and began to inflict more and more serious blows to the Goa'uld Empire. The Tau'ri have become known as the "Atlanteans" by the races of the Pegasus galaxy due to their habitation of the city of Atlantis, and Earth has been referred to as "Midgard" by the peoples of planets under the protection of the Asgard. Most of the time, the majority of protagonists in the fight against galactic oppressors are of the Tau'ri, fighting a multi-front war against several other major races. When the Asgard race became close to extinction they declared the Tau'ri as the "Fifth Race", an allusion to the now-broken Alliance of Four Great Races. An interesting coincidence associated with the name, "Tau'ri", is also the fact that the Ancient Egyptian civilization began and peaked at around 2600-2500 BC, occupying the last 500 years of the astrological Age of Taurus; the statue of a bull is at one point visible within Ra's ship. History Ancient legacy with attendants and Horus Guards in Ancient Egypt]] The Tau'ri are humans that were seeded by the Ancients when they left the Milky Way in Atlantis to escape the carnage of the plague. They returned after the end of the war with the Wraith millions of years later, some staying among the humans and passing on the ATA Gene, others departing for far-off, exotic worlds. The passed-on ATA gene makes several humans from Earth descendents of the Ancients and the inheritors of the Ancient technology. Around the same time, the Tau'ri were discovered by the Goa'uld Ra, and transported throughout the galaxy via the Stargate Network and starships thousands of years ago when his race was dying. The people of Earth eventually rebelled against the imposed Goa'uld slavery and buried the Stargate in Egypt, cutting themselves off from galactic affairs for almost 8,000 years. The "Stargate" laborers lift the Stargate out of the ground in 1928]] In the human year 1928, just prior to the breakout of World War II, the Tau'ri unearthed their stargate, having forgotten the history of what lay beyond their world. Sixty years later, the truth of all that would be revealed; the galaxy was populated with the ancient peoples of Earth, and the Tau'ri were their only hope of eventual freedom from the Goa'uld, being the only peoples with the combination of high technology and the will to fight and die for the liberty of others. When the Second World War finally did break out, the first experiments with the stargate began. The United States of America, under the direction of President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized experimentation on the Ancient device in an attempt to figure out what it was capable of. Professor Langford and Ernest Littlefield led a short expedition through the portal, but it was abandoned after Littlefield was presumed killed following his entering the event horizon. The experimentation, and eventual exploration, would be continued many years later when the US Air Force commissioned a team to travel to the only other world they knew of at the time, Abydos, and assess its value and threat to Earth, with orders to destroy any enemy forces via nuclear device. On that desert world, they encountered the Abydonians, peaceful but primitive peoples ruled over by Ra, the very alien who had conquered Earth so long ago. Leading the Abydonian Revolution, Col. Jack O'Neill and Daniel Jackson liberated the planet and killed Ra, creating, unbeknownst to them, a substantial power vacuum in Goa'uld space. The birth of Stargate Command A year later, Ra's most powerful rival, Apophis, invaded Stargate Command just as the gate was being shut down, kidnapping a young officer. In response, nine teams (with many more later on) were organized to travel to other worlds, open negotiations with other civilizations, and procure advanced technologies to defend Earth. The first mission was headed by SG-1 and SG-2, who went to the prominent Jaffa world of Chulak. SG-1 was captured by Apophis' forces, exposing them and their homeworld to the ire of the System Lords, but were later freed by the warrior Teal'c, who would join them and their people in their struggles. speaking to the Asgard High Council through a hologram]] After many successful missions, Senator Robert Kinsey attempted to shut down the Stargate Program, claiming it was a global risk to human life, ignoring the warning from Daniel Jackson that a Goa'uld attack was imminent. SG-1, seeing no other options, disobeyed orders and went through the gate to the co-ordinates Daniel found in an alternate reality, supposedly where Apophis' motherships were waiting to depart for the Sol system. With the help of Bra'tac, Teal'c's mentor and a respected Jaffa master, they destroyed the two cruisers and halted the planned invasion of Earth. The Tau'ri would later came into contact with other powerful races, such as the Asgard, who, at the time, believed that the Tau'ri were too young a people to ally with. The Tok'ra became their first official offworld partners, a race of Goa'uld who were opposed to the System Lords' enslavement of the galaxy. They eventually formed a formal alliance with the underground group and joined in their fight against the major Goa'uld threats. against the replicators]] Two years later, SG-1 would encounter the Replicators, a race of insectoid machines impervious to all energy weapons (used by nearly all advanced races), yet vulnerable to crude projectile weapons (such as those used on Earth). When the "bugs" arrived over Earth in a stolen Asgard ship previously commanded by Supreme Commander Thor, the Biliskner, SG-1 helped crash it into the Pacific Ocean. The heat of re-entry caused the vessel to break up in the atmosphere, devastating its internal systems and destroying all but one Replicator, which itself would later be contained, as well. This was the first of many skirmishes between the two factions, though the Dakara Superweapon would one day allow the Tau'ri to wipe the Replicators out once and for all. Atlantis, the Ori and the Lucian Alliance When the extremely-powerful System Lord Anubis attacked Earth, SG-1 activated hidden Ancient defenses in Antarctica, destroying his fleet and signaling the beginning of the end for the Goa'uld. In the process, the stargate address to the Lost City of the Ancients, known from their myths as Atlantis, was discovered. It was said to be a place of enormous power and incredible technology, capable of ending all threats to Earth once and for all. It would later be revealed that it wasn't, in fact, even located in the Milky Way, but in another galaxy called Pegasus. Stargate Command sent an expedition through the gate to locate the city, using the ZPM recovered from the Ancient outpost on Proclarush Taonas during Anubis' attempt to conquer the planet. Upon arrival, the Expedition learned that the Ancients had also seeded human life in this galaxy, but had been forced to abandon it after a devastating war with an unstoppable enemy known as the Wraith. After eight long years of fighting against the Goa'uld, the Tau'ri were eventually able to defeat the System Lords, aided by the Replicator invasion and with the help of the Jaffa Resistance, the Tok'ra, and the Asgard. Powering up and altering the Dakara Superweapon, they simultaneously destroyed the Replicators and crippled the Goa'uld once and for all, freeing the long-enslaved Jaffa and bringing an era of peace to the galaxy, or so they thought. ]] After the defeat of the Goa'uld, Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran eventually contacted the technologically superior Ori and alerted them to the human presence in the Milky Way. The Tau'ri were subsequently forced to battle against the Ori and their servants, the Priors, looking for a weapon to effectively fight them, and prevent humanity from being forced into the servitude of another race once more. The Tau'ri managed to acquire a weapon capable of destroying the Ori, the Sangraal, and sent it to the Ori galaxy in an attempt to destroy the energy beings, and prevent them from enslaving humanity. Months later, the Tau'ri gained a great advantage over the Ori forces still present in the Milky Way in the form of a library of Asgard knowledge installed on the Odyssey, however this incredible advantage came at a heavy price: the extinction of the Asgard. The Asgard database gave the Tau'ri access to extremely advanced knowledge and technology that, when combined with their access to the knowledge in Atlantis, gave them an unparalleled superiority over the other races of the universe. The Tau'ri would, almost a year later, acquire a relic of the Ancients known as the Ark of Truth. This device had the ability of making anyone believe whatever was programmed into it. This artifact would eventually lead to the final downfall of the Ori. The Tau'ri exposed the Doci, the Speaker of the Ori, to the Ark, instantly turning all Priors in the galaxy away from Origin and stripping the final Ori, Adria, of a large portion of her faith-generated power. The Ancient known as Morgan Le Fay subsequently engaged Adria in combat, and the two presumably destroyed each other, or locked themselves in an everlasting duel. After the Ark was used on a Prior in the Milky Way the Ori crusade was ended once and for all, with the Tau'ri standing victorious. In 2009 Atlantis came to defend Earth against a powerful ZPM powered Hive Ship. The hive ship was eventually destroyed, but Atlantis was forced to make a dangerous landing on Earth's surface. This marked the first time Atlantis had been situated on Earth in millions of years. Colonization and the ISGC A few months after the Battle of Earth and the revealing of the Stargate on Earth the United Nations stepped in and removed the gate from United States Air Force control and dissolved Stargate Command, replacing it with the new civilian-lead International Stargate Command in the hopes of averting any complaints about the United States' uni-lateral control of the gate. Fortunately this effort succeeded and Earth did not suffer the apocalypse that had for so long been feared. Wraith incursion and the Aschen threat Coalition Politics Political Climate Public knowledge of the Stargate Program Over the years, all attempts have been made to keep the existence of the Stargate secret, assuming there would be mass panic if it was ever revealed. This has been shown by several alternate-universe experiences, as the reaction was oftentimes apocalyptic. The SGC has been remarkably successful at keeping the secret nonetheless, even when Earth is under direct attack by from alien forces; when Anubis laid siege to the planet, for example, he decimated an entire US Navy Carrier Group, and when a skyscraper disappeared in downtown Seattle with no apparent explosion. Nevertheless, conspiracy theorists, especially those with business ties to the U.S. Air Force, such as Alec Colson, suspected that some kind of extraterrestrial activity was going on at the highest levels of the military. A very few select civilians not affiliated with the government were also aware of the gate's existence, such as Martin Lloyd (who is himself an alien), Joe Spencer and his wife, and Jeannie Miller and her husband Kaleb. Following the Lucian Alliance attack on Earth, the Program was revealed by the United States to the world. Although it was a reluctant move, the very-public engagement in the skies above the planet would have been impossible to explain-away, especially the [[DSC-304 George Hammond|DSC-304 George Hammond's]] flight over Washington D.C.. The International Oversight Advisory This powerful committee was originally created to oversee the Atlantis Project, but in time grew beyond its starting purpose and has actively affected other areas of Earth's offworld affairs as the International Oversight Advisory, or IOA. Its core is composed of representatives the "Big Five" nations: the United States, represented by Richard Woolsey; the United Kingdom, represented by Russel Chapman; France, represented by Jean LaPierre; Russia, represented (it is assumed) by Col. Chekov, the Russian military liaison to Stargate Command (although it is unknown if he survived the Battle of P3Y-229); and China, represented by Dr. Shen Xiaoyi. Towards the end of the first year of hostilities with the Ori, the IOA agreed to provide Stargate Command with funds which General Hank Landry and Daniel Jackson stated would be necessary for the SGC to remain important; since the US Congress would not appropriate these funds, the committee agreed to supply them from their own treasury on the condition that a civilian watchdog would be permitted to watch over SGC affairs. That watchdog was generally accepted to be Richard Woolsey before he began his tenure as commander of Atlantis. Upon the public revelation of the stargate, the IOA remained an important oversight tool for the various world governments eager to keep an eye on off-world business. When the United Nations was given command of the Program, however, the Advisory board was dissolved, with its former duties being transferred to the United Nations Oversight Division. United Nations Relationships with other cultures Tau'ri on the Intergalactic stage Technology warheads detonate over the surface of Asuras]] The Tau'ri were a fairly advanced race even before the exploration of the Milky Way, capable of simple space travel via shuttles and nuclear warfare. Tau'ri weapons are capable of rivaling the Goa'uld staff weapons and, interestingly enough, Tau'ri firearms were the only known weapons to permanently damage the Replicators before the re-invention of the Replicator disruptor. Humanity's first successful attempt of constructing any advanced starships of their own resulted in the F-302, an air and space superiority vehicle capable of engaging battle against most alien starships. Since then, one of the Stargate Command's primary objectives has been to develop and construct a fleet of Earth-built space battleships, such as the BC-303 and the DSC-304. Alien technology Military strength Earth has several offworld teams, mostly under the control of the ISGC, who are to open negotiations with other planets and procure advanced technology that could be used to defend Earth. They usually operate as teams of four, although that is not a requirement. A few off-world bases have a number of military personnel for operation. Starships Earth also operates a small, but highly advanced, fleet of starships. Expeditions Atlantis Expedition , the Tau'ri base of operations in the Pegasus Galaxy]] The Atlantis Project, also called the Atlantis Expedition, is Earth's international mission to the Ancient city of Atlantis in the Pegasus Galaxy. The impetus for the creation of the expedition was the discovery of the Ancient outpost in Antarctica. Its international status was, before the revelation of the Stargate Program, to foster worldwide support for the secret endeavors, as well as the fact that according to international law, Antarctica is unclaimable territory and hence it would technically be illegal for the United States to operate any facilities without international participation, or at least international knowledge. Olympus Expedition The Olympus Expedition is Stargate Command's mission to the Ancient space station of Olympus in the NGC 3109 Galaxy. The impetus for the mission was the discovery of the Ancient library on PX8-153, which SG-17 discovered in 2008. After discovering the location and fate of the abandoned station, the Expedition took up residence and began exploring the worlds of this new, unexplored galaxy, forging alliance with native races and steadfastly opposing the dominance of the K'hoas. ''Destiny'' Expedition :Main article: Destiny Expedition Colonia Expedition Major worlds under Tau'ri control *Alpha Site (Major military bases) **Milky Way Alpha Site (Major military base) **Vennix Alpha Site (Major military base) *Earth (Homeworld, United Nations capital) **Antarctic Outpost **Area 51 **Cheyenne Mountain Complex (ISGC) *Lanea (Current location of Colonia) *Mars (Location of the Olympus Mons Array) *New Lantea (Current location of Atlantis) *Nueva (Civilian colony) :Former colonies and bases marked with * Major Enemies Active Threats *Aschen Confederation (Active Milky Way Galaxy Threat) - Aschen War *Ashellian Empire (Active Vennix Galaxy Threat) - Ashellian War *K'hoas (Active NGC 3109 Threat) - Tau'ri-K'hoas War *People's Republic of China (Active Milky Way Galaxy Threat) - Chinese Rebellion *The Trust (Status Unknown) *Vakal (Active Pegasus Galaxy Threat) - Wraith-Vakal War *Wraith (Active Milky Way/Pegasus Galaxy Threat) - Tau'ri-Wraith War, Wraith Invasion of the Milky Way Former Threats *Asurans (Confirmed Defeated) - Asuran-Tau'ri-Wraith War *Goa'uld (Confirmed Defeated) - Tau'ri-Goa'uld War *Lucian Alliance (Reformed) - Tau'ri-Lucian Alliance War *Michael Kenmore (Confirmed Defeated) - Michael's Crusade *Replicators (Confirmed Defeated) - Asgard-Replicator War *Ori (Confirmed Defeated) - Ori Crusade External links *Tau'ri on Stargate Wiki *